The subject invention relates to firearms with target illuminators, to target illuminators for firearms, and to battery By compartments and battery-driven appliances.
Numerous battery-driven appliances have been proposed and have been made over the years. An example thereof is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,594, by Bernie E. Bjornsen, III, Dr. Peter Hauk, and Dr. John W. Matthews, for Ergonomic Electrical Current Switching Systems, issued Aug. 5, 1997 to Laser Products Ltd., and hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Illustrated embodiments of that prior-art development include a firearm target illuminator laterally attached to the weapon. Typically, such target illuminator has a compartment for batteries that energize an electric light source through a switching device. Also typically, such light source is contained in a lamp module that is threaded onto the battery compartment. As development progresses, such threading of the lamp housing onto the battery compartment may eventuate misalignment among battery and lamp terminals.
Against this background and the broader prior art, the subject invention, from a first aspect thereof, resides in apparatus for firing projectiles at targets and for illuminating such targets, and more specifically resides in the improvement comprising, in combination, a projectile-firing weapon, a target illuminator, a track-and-slide combination including a slide on that target illuminator and a track structure on such weapon for that slide, and a releasable slide-in-track stop in such track-and-slide combination.
From a second aspect thereof, the invention resides also in apparatus for firing projectiles at targets with a firearm having a trigger actuated by a bent trigger finger of a shooter, and for illuminating such targets, and more specifically resides in the improvement comprising, in combination, a target illuminator mounted on such firearm, and a push-button switch mounted within reach of a pad of that trigger finger prior to actuation of the trigger.
According to an embodiment of the invention, such combination may include the above mentioned track-and-slide combination and releasable slide-in-track stop.
From another aspect thereof, the invention resides also in an electric appliance including batteries, and more specifically, resides in the improvement comprising, in combination, a battery compartment for such batteries, a contact plate interconnecting such batteries, a contact plate retainer coupled to that contact plate, and a contact plate retainer receptacle in that battery compartment.